‘Compassion grows community,’ says Durban North NPO

THROUGH an initiative called Ubuntu Army, Durban North resident Clint McLean aims to promote a spirit of ubuntu, by encouraging donors to go beyond writing a cheque, to meet and interact with people in less fortunate communities. McLean said the ethos of ubuntu is lacking in South African culture that is marked by extremes of wealth where fostering a sense of community could help to break down social politics.

“The best definition of ubuntu is: I am because we are. My identity is tied to your identity, my happiness is tied to yours – it asks the question: how can I be happy when you are not? Usually people give money to charities, but I think it’s more important for people to get actively involved on a community level, to break down the barriers between people, so they get to know the people they are helping. That’s how a sense of community gets built- compassion builds community. The more compassion you have, the more you can give to the people around you,” said McLean.

The local sculptor started the initiative in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent food crisis.

“It morphed overtime. In the beginning I aimed to offer support to vulnerable communities. I thought people without means would be struggling in the core areas like affording masks. It soon became clear that we were going to have a hunger issue, so we swapped from masks to feeding people,” he said.

Also read: Durban North baby home calls for charity rather than Coronavirus ‘panic’

With substantial donations from friends and colleagues in the United States, where he has worked as a sculptor, McLean ran a feeding scheme from St Peter’s Catholic Church in Durban.

“I went into the Durban CBD and identified about 350 refugee families, because I felt that refugees were probably the most vulnerable people. We then went and made deals with supermarkets and we got about 11 tons of food and we had a fleet of bakkies. We ran big convoys of food into the Point area,” said Mclean.

From these simple beginnings, the initiative now caters to 2300 families in the Point area. What’s more, McLean created a Facebook Group called Ubuntu Link which has attracted almost 6000 members in need of food hampers.

“I’ve then got moderators all around the world in New Zealand, Australia, the US, the UK and South Africa. We find donors to directly interact with the people on Ubuntu Link,” he said.

Also read:Durban North resident puts preaching into practice

McLean also created a Facebook group for Ubuntu Army, where people can create a post about an initiative they want to start and network with almost 2000 other

This is when you identify someone in the community that you trust and they identify 25-30 people who need food, you raise the funds and then I do the logistics, to deliver the food. Most people can raise the money and don’t even mind buying the food, but they are terrified to go into the townships, so I am the guy with the truck, doing the deliveries,” he said.

For more information, visit the Ubuntu Army or Ubuntu Link Facebook pages or the website via: www.ubuntuarmy.org.

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